Back in Time: S. B. Douglass

By Franz Kafka

It didn't take long until sex was included to the alt-hierarchy of usenet and the first stories were posted. Many of these posts are long gone, but thanks to archivers, reposters, Eli, and Google some of these early stories have been preserved.

S. B. Douglass is one of the writers on a story list being part of the Alt.Sex FAQ in late 1991; nothing is known about the gender of the writer, whose only posts to usenet with this handle seem to be fourteen stories sent to Alt.Sex between 1988 and 1991.

There is a wide variety of stories. Wedded lust appears in most of those works. Piercings and body transformations are another theme S. B. Douglass seemed to be interested in, but I don't believe that any of those stories will offend the adult reader; maybe not even Jesse Holmes, who was a U.S. Senator at the time and inspired the writer to invent the Jesse Helms Erotic Literature Contest . [It is certainly the first (adult) story festival held in the usenet, but I doubt that the contributions can be retrieved as of today.] S. B. Douglass explained the purpose of that festival in the preface to some of the stories: "The gist of the contest was that the stories had to be erotic while confining themselves to the kinds of constraints that Helms advocates."

Indeed, you won't find the f-word in any of Douglass' works. Each of the stories is worthy to read, three stories will be summarized here.

"Rings" and "Rings 2" describe the love life of a recently married couple, whose husband discovers a secret his wife didn't tell him before the marriage. The first part is one of the few sex stories ever posted to usenet in which AIDS plays a role. It's not only how and why the protagonist met his wife, but the atmosphere of this story still fits into the America of 2006, in which the "War on Porn" seems to play a much larger role than dealing with the hurricane "Katrina". The sequel is much more daring, not only in language, but also in the actions the hero is involved into. It culminates during the July 4th fireworks.

"Bodysurfing" was another entry to the Jesse Helms Erotic Literature Contest, and so it featured an erotic adventure of a married couple. The writer bent the self-made rules a bit, since the couple has sex in public, but nobody catches them and it basically can be said that every couple should do what Jim and Eva are doing in this story. It's erotic and it's fun.

"Adsorbing Passion" is the only other story, besides "Rings / Rings 2", to which S. B. Douglass wrote a sequel. It's not merely a sex story, but also a kind of B-movie horror story. Sex plays a story in it, of course, but it's the horniness of the protagonist what gives the monster a chance. Thanks to a supplemental post of a fellow, eventually the monster doesn't win. Similarly to "The Fish", this story is beyond reality.

If you look on S. B. Douglass' stories in detail, you may find that the sex is hot, but does not include dirty terms, even in the dialogues. The stories feature romance and love and respect—even "Adsorbing Passion"—and it is a pity that the writer has disappeared. Or, maybe the writer entertained us with other stories, using another nickname. However, the writer's oeuvre should not be forgotten.

Most of S. B. Douglass' stories are archived at ASSTR, stored in Eli's collection.

A complete collection of all retained stories can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/franzkafka79/sbd.html

Franz Kafka can be reached at franzkafka79 [at] gmail [dot] com

	JoD: Columns
	Back in Time: S. B. Douglass By Franz Kafka It didn't take long until sex was included to the alt-hierarchy of usenet and the first stories were posted. Many of these posts are long gone, but thanks to archivers, reposters, Eli, and Google some of these early stories have been preserved. S. B. Douglass is one of the writers on a story list being part of the Alt.Sex FAQ in late 1991; nothing is known about the gender of the writer, whose only posts to usenet with this handle seem to be fourteen stories sent to Alt.Sex between 1988 and 1991. There is a wide variety of stories. Wedded lust appears in most of those works. Piercings and body transformations are another theme S. B. Douglass seemed to be interested in, but I don't believe that any of those stories will offend the adult reader; maybe not even Jesse Holmes, who was a U.S. Senator at the time and inspired the writer to invent the Jesse Helms Erotic Literature Contest . [It is certainly the first (adult) story festival held in the usenet, but I doubt that the contributions can be retrieved as of today.] S. B. Douglass explained the purpose of that festival in the preface to some of the stories: "The gist of the contest was that the stories had to be erotic while confining themselves to the kinds of constraints that Helms advocates." Indeed, you won't find the f-word in any of Douglass' works. Each of the stories is worthy to read, three stories will be summarized here. "Rings" and "Rings 2" describe the love life of a recently married couple, whose husband discovers a secret his wife didn't tell him before the marriage. The first part is one of the few sex stories ever posted to usenet in which AIDS plays a role. It's not only how and why the protagonist met his wife, but the atmosphere of this story still fits into the America of 2006, in which the "War on Porn" seems to play a much larger role than dealing with the hurricane "Katrina". The sequel is much more daring, not only in language, but also in the actions the hero is involved into. It culminates during the July 4th fireworks. "Bodysurfing" was another entry to the Jesse Helms Erotic Literature Contest, and so it featured an erotic adventure of a married couple. The writer bent the self-made rules a bit, since the couple has sex in public, but nobody catches them and it basically can be said that every couple should do what Jim and Eva are doing in this story. It's erotic and it's fun. "Adsorbing Passion" is the only other story, besides "Rings / Rings 2", to which S. B. Douglass wrote a sequel. It's not merely a sex story, but also a kind of B-movie horror story. Sex plays a story in it, of course, but it's the horniness of the protagonist what gives the monster a chance. Thanks to a supplemental post of a fellow, eventually the monster doesn't win. Similarly to "The Fish", this story is beyond reality. If you look on S. B. Douglass' stories in detail, you may find that the sex is hot, but does not include dirty terms, even in the dialogues. The stories feature romance and love and respect—even "Adsorbing Passion"—and it is a pity that the writer has disappeared. Or, maybe the writer entertained us with other stories, using another nickname. However, the writer's oeuvre should not be forgotten. Most of S. B. Douglass' stories are archived at ASSTR, stored in Eli's collection. A complete collection of all retained stories can be found at: http://www.geocities.com/franzkafka79/sbd.html Franz Kafka can be reached at franzkafka79 [at] gmail [dot] com (c) Copyright 2006 Franz Kafka. All Rights Reserved.
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	The Journal of Desire	Volume 3, Number 1